David Hugo returns to direct Reagle's 'South Pacific'

Sunday

Jun 8, 2014 at 12:02 PMJun 8, 2014 at 12:02 PM

By R. Scott ReedyWicked Local Arts Correspondent

When he wanted advice on how to stage the famous “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair” number for the upcoming Reagle Music Theatre of Great Boston’s production of “South Pacific” – when the female lead has to shampoo and rinse without missing a note – director David Hugo turned to a famous friend who is very familiar with that signature moment.“I texted Kelli O’Hara who played Nellie Forbush in the 2008 Lincoln Center revival. Kelli and I did ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ together on tour many years ago and we’ve been friends ever since. I asked for her advice about the best way to have our Nellie wash her hair on stage, something Kelli did for two years on Broadway,” explained Hugo, last week by telephone, of the five-time Tony nominee. “I don’t want to reveal the inside information that Kelli shared, but I will say that her insights were very helpful.”Set on a tropical island during World War II and featuring a score that also includes “Some Enchanted Evening,” “There Is Nothing Like a Dame,” “Bali Ha’i,” and “I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy,” “South Pacific” is one of the most respected and beloved musicals in Broadway history. That doesn’t mean, however, that it immediately captures everyone’s attention.“This is my first time doing anything with ‘South Pacific,’” acknowledges Hugo. “As a director, I wasn’t drawn to it at first. Once I started to look at the show and research it, then I got really excited about it. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II really pushed the envelope on race back then with the interracial romances, and songs like ‘You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” which deals head-on with racism. When people leave the theater, I expect they will be thinking about the prejudices that were once so strong in our country and which, to a degree, are still present today. I hope they will also take with them the memory of a beautiful love story and, of course, a magnificent score.”As a professor of acting and musical theater performance at New York’s Long Island University, Hugo, who directed “Les Miserables” at Reagle last summer, was only too happy to learn more about the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and multi-Tony Award-winning Rodgers and Hammerstein musical – based on James A. Michener’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Tales of the South Pacific” – which premiered on Broadway in April 1949 following a two-week out-of-town tryout at Boston’s Shubert Theatre.“This show is not only about two great love stories threatened by racial prejudice and war, but also about the greatest generation and the sacrifices they made for our country during World War II. When you do a show like this, it’s about helping people to remember a different time. I definitely didn’t want to do this as a museum piece, however, so we’ve kept the most familiar moments and added to them in ways that have helped our cast find their truth. I don’t want to reveal too much for anyone who may not have seen this show yet, but we’ve definitely kept iconic moments like when Emile de Becque reaches under the table for Nellie’s hand near the end of act two,” says Hugo, who will also co-direct “Conditions of Love,” a derived production pairing Shakespeare’s words and Stephen Sondheim’s music, with his mentor, Maria Porter, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland Aug. 11–14.“We have adjusted and tweaked some things, though, like the character of Bloody Mary. With considerable help from Lydia Gaston, a very talented Broadway actress who is playing the part in Waltham, we’re making our Bloody Mary less sweet and more desperate. This is a woman, after all, who is all but willing to sell her own daughter. We’re also making the ‘Happy Talk’ number less sweet and more aggressive. And they say, if you’re going to steal, you should steal from the best, and I loved the Lincoln Center production directed by Bartlett Sher, so we’ve borrowed some of those ideas. My team – choreographer Rachel Bartone and music director Dan Rodriguez and a cast of 30, including students from the Boston Conservatory and Emerson College, plus a few of mine from LIU – and I are eager to see where we can take this production.”Earlier in his career, while an actor, Hugo learned first-hand where a show can take you.“For about 12 years, between Broadway and national tours, ‘Les Miserables’ was my bread and butter. I understudied Terrence Mann in the role of Javert and I also played just about every other male character on tour throughout the U.S., and also in Canada, China, Korea and Singapore. I would fly between New York, where I was a vacation swing on Broadway, to wherever I was needed on the road. Now, I tell every one of my students, ‘You’re a product, so make yourself valuable in as many ways as possible.’”Eight years ago, a father with a young child and tired of having to fly from far-flung places just to spend a holiday with his family, the Dryden, N.Y., native who now calls Astoria, Queens, home decided to turn his attention to directing and teaching.“As an actor, I was fortunate to work with and learn from directors like John Caird, Jerry Mitchell, and Trevor Nunn. I left acting, however, because I felt like I just didn’t fit in anymore. Being on tour is something you can handle when you’re younger, but it gets more difficult over time. I can still remember trying to reach through the telephone to my girlfriend. I missed her so much. We ended up married and then divorced, but we had a beautiful child together who is the focus of my life. Our daughter, Jada, is 11 now and I couldn’t imagine being away from her for long periods of time. Maybe when Jada goes off to college, I could resume the selfish life of an actor, but not now. I realized several years ago that I really don’t love acting the way I love directing,” says Hugo. “But I understand what an actor needs from a director, because I have been on that side.”"South Pacific"WHEN: June 12–22 WHERE: Robinson Theatre, 617 Lexington St., Waltham TICKETS: $35-$63 INFO: 781-891-5600; reaglemusictheatre.com

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